What Next for Paramore?

On the 15th of December, all too scarily similar to Christmas 2010 when the Farro brothers left, Paramore bassist Jeremy Davis was announced as having left the popular pop-rock group. This turned Paramore from a trio into a double act of just Hayley Williams and Taylor York. A brief statement posted online confirmed the band would indeed continue and they were excited for what lay ahead beginning with Parahoy – the cruise ship concert hosted by the band for fans all over the world to come party in March.

I, myself, am a very big fan of Paramore but it left me wondering just how long Paramore will remain as a band and what their next step will be. Are they going to remain as just two people under the name “Paramore” and continue with backing musicians? Or will they name one, or even two, of their regular backing musicians as official members of the band?

Nobody could ever deny Jon Howard or Justin York becoming official members considering they have both toured with the band for a number of years. Jon Howard will now be entering his sixth year and with Justin York being the brother of Taylor then it all seems to make a lot of sense.

It is, of course, possible to continue as just a two-piece. You only need to look at Panic! At The Disco where currently Brendan Urie is the only official member and is still producing some brilliant work. Nobody bats an eye-lid and we all just accept that this is what Panic! At The Disco are so would it be any different for Paramore?

Paramore have now been a band for over a decade and, naturally through time, are changed people from the fresh faced mid-teens who started it all off. Growing older means more responsibilities and sacrifices being made in regards to family and loved ones. Josh Farro and Jeremy Davis are both married plus Jeremy also has a little girl meanwhile Hayley is engaged to New Found Glory’s Chad Gilbert. All this gives even less free time for the musicians than what they’ve become accustomed to and nobody would deny anyone wishing to spend more time with their family which I feel may be the case with Jeremy Davis.

This all gives fire to music critics who like to support the naming them as “ the Hayley Williams show” or “Hayley Williams and co” when Paramore have never been about just one person. These kind of comments have been repeatedly argued against by no-one more than Hayley herself and considering Taylor York has been around since the All We Know Is Falling days, often overlooked or unknown by others, then it’s disrespectful to just push him to the side considering his influence. Hayley has had to constantly remind people that it’s not all about her dating back as far back as 2007 when she wore a t-shirt reading “Paramore is a band” which remains a popular saying to fans even to this day with even merchandise made proclaiming “Paramore is still a band.”

Of course, Paramore have bounced back from losing members in previous times before and 2016 could be a massive year for them now. With potentially a new album, and who knows, even new members then Paramore will be the scope for attention once again as everyone looks on with a keen interest as to what steps they take next.

The best thing about all this though? Not one single person is entertaining the thought of Paramore coming to an end. Such is the passion and support for the band from fans worldwide that even a brief viewing of Hayley’s Twitter account shows that she’s still overwhelmed by it. After all this time, people are definitely still into Paramore and there is no bigger fan than Hayley.

So it all leaves us begging just that one question – what next for Paramore?